Downtown Construction Update
Year of healing for downtown
Urban Renewal gaps close as condo, retail development barrels ahead
By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer
Scars that separated sections of downtown Oklahoma City, created by failed Urban Renewal efforts, began to heal in 2006 as construction began on a half dozen housing developments.
The year began with questions as to whether one of the more ambitious projects, Legacy at Arts Quarter, would end up another unrealized Urban Renewal effort. After three years of delays, Urban Renewal commissioners were threatening to pull the plug on the project and gave developer Mike Henderson a Dec. 22, 2006 deadline to "remedy the default in his contract.”
A month later, construction crews were on the corner of NW 4 and Walker. A large undeveloped lot, cleared by Urban Renewal a quarter century ago, is now an imposing five-story complex that will add 303 apartments and a block of ground-floor retail space. The development also closes one of the bigger scars that separated the Arts District from MidTown and the Central Business District.
Yet another scar that separated the Oklahoma Health Center from downtown began to close as three competing developers started work on housing in Deep Deuce and the Flat Iron District.
At year end, three stories are up at NE 4 and Stiles, where developer Grant Humphreys is building the Block 42 condominium complex. Across the street, the foundation is underway for the Central Avenues. One block south, at NE 2, crews are doing site work for The Hill. And the vast empty surface parking lots that once belonged to Kerr McGee along Oklahoma Avenue have been replaced with park land that will be part of the Triangle development.
Along NE 3, walls are up for the first 15 brownstones that will be part of the Triangle's Maywood Park neighborhood.
And a longtime dream in Bricktown finally was coming true as the first of five floors was up at The Centennial — representing the first major housing development in the entertainment district.
Richard Tanenbaum previously converted a former Montgomery Wards department store (last used as offices) into The Mongomery, an upscale apartment building. He launched a similar project with the 17-story Park Harvey Building. Work still is under way to convert the property into 162 apartments.
A similar conversion was being planned by architect Anthony McDermid for vacant office buildings on the Kerr-McGee campus downtown. But the deal fell apart when the company was acquired by Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum, and the two sides are headed to court.
Smaller private housing projects sprang up across downtown, ranging from a modern contemporary home built at NE 7 and Oklahoma to older buildings in Deep Deuce and Bricktown being converted into small apartments.
Work also began along West Sheridan as developer Chip Fudge and architect David Wanzer attempted to create the next downtown renaissance story by conjuring up images of the area's history as Film Row. Early plans include renovations of decades-old buildings into housing, offices and retail.
Yet another downtown area district was already on its way to just that mix. Developer Greg Banta finished property acquisition by mid-2006, and began an aggressive renovation plan that saw the reopening of the distirct's landmark Plaza Court Building and repairs to dozens of neglected buildings along NW 10, Walker Avenue and Francis Avenue.
Banta's development, combined with expansion of the St. Anthony Hospital campus, began to close the gap on downtown's west fringe between MidTown and the Arts District.
Mayor Mick Cornett convened a group to draft a plan for downtown's next big hole — the the south fringe of downtown that will be exposed by the relocation of Interstate 40. Ideas included creation of a large "central park” and expansion of the convention center.
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